I have also observed with interest the coming and passing of doctrinal and ministerial fads among pentecostals. Again, I do not claim to speak for the whole pentecostal reality in South Africa but that which was accessible to my eyes and ears. I have seen letters purporting to come from the devil enroute to supposed satanists. A line would be put in there which urges caution lest 'the followers of my enemy' get hold of it. This letters would go on to instruct the 'satanists' in what to do when they come across christians (your born agains). Consequently, those christians who got hold of this correspondence would feel very privileged and would share the contents with great zeal as well as encourage Christians to do the very things the devil supposedly commanded his followers to discourage. Pure propaganda by a literary genius who got those christians who conveniently intercepted this correspondence to do certain things by reverse psychology.
There emerged a hype around deliverance from satanic power. During this hype we became acquainted with testimonies from supposedly ex satanists. They were supposedly caught while in the mission of killing the one who later exposed and delivered them from satanic power to become co-travelers in an itinerant deliverance ministry. Most of the ministers led these former satanists to respond to stupid questions the goal of which was unclear. The ex satanists made outrageous claims about their powers and cruelty thereby terrifying and traumatizing the listeners. Whilst some of these things could be true, most could be hallucinations of a strongly drugged mind. However, it was particulalry disturbing to see them fall on stage under the supposed satanic attack amidst claims of deliverance. Traumatized souls indeed. What I particularly objected to was their attempts to bolster certain unwarranted interpretations of Scripture thus making doctrinal statements. For example: One former satanist told us that people who put on jewelery can never enter heaven. This assertion he made on the strength of his vast satanic experience as a jeweller in the beneath the sea manufacturing plant!
After this hype came the baptism by fire fad. According to this theology, Jesus was anounced as the baptizer in the Holy Spirit and fire. God makes his servants flames of fire. He himself is the All Consuming Fire. So Christians were now supposed to be baptized in fire! Many a call was made inviting people to receive this baptism of fire. Sadly many got themselves baptized in this strange fire!
Beside this a new movement came strong in intercession and prophecy. I watched as a holier than thou attitude was nursed into being. I watched as false prophecies were bandied around crippling some from fruitful ministry and freedom in Christ. In a certain town such intercessor-prophets separated themselves from their local congregations under pretense of 'seeking to hear only from God'. They then undertook a very coordinated attack to speak evil and sow discord in churches by sending themselves as 'prophets' whilst they were armed with information regarding certain individuals!
The most recent wave is a reinvention of the deliverance ministry. This time it propounds a 'generational curse' theology. According to the little I have heard of this theology, its major targets are the already born again. They need to be either first generation evangeli- pentecostal charismatic christians or be able to point out that thy stand in a line which includes some African traditional practices and practitioners. With that, a belief is put forward that the current christian is carrrying a generational curse that first befell their predecessors. In order to extricate oneself from the curse a prayer of deliverance is to made. Sometimes the supposed victim of this generational curse has to change his or her name.
Well, before I conclude this section, let me mention another fad within the circles of pentecostal- charismatic ministers. This one has one thing in common - title, title, title. We have had waves upon waves of titles which have not been part of traditional pentecostalism. Ministers who formerly were addressed as 'pastors' began to call themselves 'apostles' and 'prophets'. I might be wrong about the inspiration of this phenomenon. But the emergence of apostles among us seems to have been inspired by visitation of some ministers from beyond the borders of South Africa. It was from among them that one came to be introduced to titles such as 'Prophet so and so'. And the South African probably answered by adopting 'Apostle' for a title. Of course few have called themselves prophets. Another titular wave seems to have been imported from the USA. The frequent trips by some of our ministers to the US brought us the title 'bishop'. Thus some of the first pentecostal - charismatic bishops were supposedly ordained either in the US or by Americans (in some instances Black Britons with connections to West Africa). The adoption of these titles among our South Africa pentecostal ministers is a recent thing. It is also mostly about titles and not necessarily functions. Space does not allow for me to mention some weird behaviours which have come with these titles.
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